The Uncanny
by Val Evenstar
Summary: SG1 visits a planet that holds more mysteries than answers. What they find could be Earth's salvation... or undoing. Season 9. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

**The Uncanny**

_by Val Evenstar_

* * *

**Author's Note:** On a totally random whim, I am simultaneously publishing this and 'Such a Time as This' because I've abandoned the SG-1 universe for to long. Both of these were written... a year ago? It's been a while. This particular topic was inspired by an expository speech I wrote. It starts out slow, but don't all mysteries? Let me know what you think of this first little chapter!

* * *

The Stargate activated, the empty ring turning into a shimmering pool of blue that lit up the area behind the iris. General Landry, standing at the bottom of the ramp with SG-1, looked up to the control room. Walter's voice came through the speakers in the gateroom. "Receiving SG-5's IDC - they're bringing two visitors, as scheduled."

The General nodded. "Open the iris."

The iris slid open, allowing six figures to come through the Stargate's event horizon. The first four were in standard military green; the other two were dressed in bright tunics, and carrying small satchels.

"Welcome to Earth," said the General. "I'm General Hank Landry, commander of this base. This is SG-1 - Col. Mitchell, Col. Carter, Teal'c, and Dr. Jackson. They'll be going to your world as our representatives."

"Greetings, General," said the taller alien. He was middle-aged, with sharp features, and he wore a pendant on a gold chain around his neck. "I am Councilor Tolan, and this is Ambassador Idris. We welcome the opportunity to start a relationship between our two worlds. You were the first visitors ever to come through our Stargate - I am glad you came as friends, not conquerors." Tolan turned to speak to SG-1. "I hope you enjoy your visit to Cader. It is a beautiful world, and I believe we have many things that will be of interest to you."

Sam smiled politely, playing the diplomat. "I'm sure it will be a pleasure. Thank you for so graciously extending your hospitality."

"I hope it will only be the beginning of a lasting friendship between our peoples."

"Something creepy about these people," Major Hadden said to Mitchell, using a low voice. He'd stayed behind while the rest of his team had left the gateroom. "Like the waking dead, they are. Just look at them, no light in their eyes, no warmth in their smiles or feeling in their words -"

"Save it for the campfire, Major," Cameron said dismissively. "But just so you know, most politician types are like that anyway."

Hadden shook his head and left the gateroom.

Cameron walked up to where the rest of SG-1 was waiting, impatient to leave.

"All set?"

"Sure."

They walked through the Stargate, and space twisted and contracted. The next thing they knew, they were on another world.

The great Gate shut behind them.

It seemed as if they'd come out into a museum, or an art gallery. The room was high and bright, with stately Grecian columns giving the illusion of symmetry and lightness. As they walked away from the gate, footsteps echoing on the cool marble floor, they could see that the Stargate itself was the focus of the room. Like the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, the gate dominated the scene.

"Art and culture, that's what the report said these people were about," murmured Dr. Jackson. "Well, that's art!"

"No welcoming committee, though," commented Mitchell.

"Maybe the tour is self-guided," Carter joked.

The two tall doors at the end of the room started to open. Light outlined the person opening them, who seemed diminutive by comparison with the doors.

"Or maybe they just prefer to be melodramatic," observed Mitchell.

The heavy doors swung all the way open, and the figure straightened. "Greetings, representatives of the Tau'ri. I am Zdarin, your guide. I am sorry that Governor Thallus was not available to greet you himself. Please, come with me, and I will show you some of our great government buildings, museums, and works of art. I will tell you of our people and our planet, and give you answers to your questions."

Daniel's eyes lit up. "That's good, I have a lot of questions. Your civilization's been here for, uh, 250,000 years, and you've been isolated from the rest of the galaxy all that time? Or did you just prefer starships to Stargates, because at about the time your civilization began, you could've known the Ancients, otherwise known as Alterrans -"

"Please, please, Dr. Jackson," Zdarin motioned for quiet. "I will be glad to answer all your questions. Perhaps if I told you of Cader's history, you will find what you are looking for."

They followed him out of the room into a wide, columned reception hall with one side that opened out onto a large courtyard.

"Our people came to Cader about three hundred thousand years ago..."

* * *

"I'll show you to your quarters as soon as you check in at the infirmary. It's standard procedure to examine all travelers, to make sure you're not carrying any contagions, and to inoculate you against some of our diseases. I'm sure you do something similar on your world."

General Landry led the two ambassadors into the infirmary.

"Excuse me, General, I don't believe this is entirely necessary," said Councilor Tolan.

"Pardon?" asked the general, turning to face him.

"There is no...disease... on our world."

"What?"

"We live in perfect health. There has been no - illness -for thousands of years."

"Well, even if that is the case, Councilor, we'll still have to make sure your immune systems can handle everything they're going to be exposed to here," said Dr. Lam as she entered the room.

"Councilor, Ambassador, this is Dr. Lam," said the general.

"Pleased to meet you. Hopefully, this won't take very long - I only need to run a few tests. But if your society has been without disease for as long as you say, I'm afraid that could have had some devastating effects on your immune system."

"There is no need to worry, Doctor," interjected the ambassador. "We still have some physicians on our world, and they have adequately prepared us for what we will encounter here."

Dr. Lam frowned. "Well that's wonderful, but I'm still going to have to run a few tests."

"Our physicians have assured us that we are not transporting any contagions. And our physiology is very different than your own, so we believe that our physicians would be more able to discern any problems we might have."

"I'm sorry if this is inconvenient for you, but I have to follow procedure. It will be quick, if you simply cooperate. I -"

"Um, Doctor," the general said, motioning her aside.

"Excuse me for a minute."

The two aliens watched as the humans walked to the opposite side of the room, talking in low voices. It was a heated discussion; they could see the doctor punctuating her statements with hand gestures, and the general making calming motions as he tried to present his side of the argument. Finally it was over; it seemed the general had won.

"Sorry about that," said the doctor. "General Landry has suggested that I settle for a blood sample, and a full report from your physicians. I'd like to do a little more, but I cannot do anything less."

"Thank you, Doctor, General. Your people did suggest that we bring a physician's report with us; they are with our belongings. We will give them to you as soon as possible."

"All right," said Dr. Lam, and dug a syringe out of her pocket. "Now, if you'll just roll up your sleeve -"

"Doctor," said Idris, laying a hand on the young woman's arm, "Please, allow us to do this ourselves. You see, on our world medicine is not practiced very often, and so it an extremely private affair."

Carolyn blinked. "That's fine, I suppose. See this line here? I need each of these syringes filled up to here, with blood. Oh, you do know how to use these?"

The aliens regarded the instrument, and then nodded. "I believe we can discover how they operate."

The doctor showed them into a room then shut the door.

"Well, that was strange," she said as she approached the general.

He nodded, watching the door. "If you find anything odd in those doctor's reports, you'll let me know."

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Sorry for the short chapter! But at least there's a little more action. I'll update soon!

* * *

Daniel waved a farewell to Zdarin, then followed the others into the suite and shut the door. "OK, there is definitely something fishy about all this."

"What do you mean, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c asked.

"You mean the fact that no one has any sense of humor?" said Cameron.

"I thought everything went fine," Sam said. "Those labs - " She shook her head in disbelief. "It's incredible! This is a society without hyperdrive, even though they're technologically advanced almost to the level of the Asgard when it comes to communication, miniaturization, and biotech! If we could just -" Sam saw the look on Daniel's face and stopped. "Sorry. You were saying?"

"Yeah, Sam, it's not the technology I have a problem with, it's the people."

"Different culture, different attitudes, what's wrong with that?" asked Cameron.

"Oh, so none of you noticed the fundamental flaw in their little paradise?"

The others exchanged glances.

"Or should I say, the fact that all this is too good to be true," Daniel explained.

"Oh, well, I did mention the lack of hyperdrive - "

"No, no, no, about their history."

"Um - what about it?" asked Sam.

"So I wasn't the only one who fell asleep in the history class," Cameron joked.

"You are referring to the way the people of Cader have lived without war, famine, or disease for thousands of years," said Teal'c.

"Exactly! Now we all know that this is an isolated society - which is curious enough, considering that they have a perfectly good Stargate - but with a population as large as theirs, there's bound to be differences. The -"

"Wait, wait, Jackson," Cameron interrupted. "We know it's possible for people to live in perfect health, there was that village in the Pegasus galaxy and then the people who lived on tritonin. And having a large population doesn't mean that some have to go hungry."

"Granted, that's possible. But that's not what worries me, it's the fact that these guys have had no war - or even any big political debates - in the last few millennia. Even on our isolated planet Earth we've had countless wars, hundreds of changes in power. But these people, it's like they've achieved Utopia without even having to fight for it!"

"But isn't that possible?" Carter asked.

"Possible, maybe. But not without a lot of struggle and bloodshed. Assuming that people can achieve Utopia is based on the assumption that we are inherently good, and historically, when people are left on their own without government or society or religion, they tend to go from bad to worse. So to actually build a Utopian society, they would first have to overcome this tendency, and that would man a lot of fighting between factions, and power struggles, things of that sort. Like the early Soviet Union, trying to achieve communism." Daniel's eyes widened as he came to a realization. "In fact, that's just what they've done. Look at their economy, it's practically communist. Their government - well, it isn't quite anarchism, more like extreme democracy instead of a republic. Like ancient Athens."

"Could they not have erased unpleasant records of their history in order to prevent such things from happening again?" asked Teal'c.

"They might have. But why?"

"That's not the question here, Jackson," said Cameron. "The thing is, so these people have an uncanny history or they're trying to cover up, but how does that affect us and our mission here?"

"Well," Daniel said slowly, thinking. "It may mean that they're using some strange methods to preserve their Utopia, something they're not being very up-front about. And... that has ramifications as to how trustworthy they are. If they have a hidden agenda for their own people...we need to find out if they've got one for us."

"Right. Well, we've got that reception with the governor in half an hour. It'd probably be a good idea keep our eyes open."

* * *

Councilor Tolan strode down the corridor. A passing airman gave him a respectful nod, then continued on his way. The alien came to the elevator and entered. His eyes scanned the long list of numbers, then settled on the second one from the bottom.

His hand reached out and pressed the button for Level 27. The elevator moved down two levels, then stopped and opened. The Councilor stepped out and walked away.

Two guards stood by the office door. They saw the alien approaching and reached for their radios to inform the general.

Their hands didn't get that far.

The Councilor lashed out, and a lightning fast double strike connected with both their temples. They slumped against the wall, and the alien reached out to catch their collars and lower them silently to the floor.

He went on, down the stairs to the operations room. The guards blocking his way didn't have a chance.

The men in the room looked up when he entered. "Councilor! General Landry said you didn't need the Gate for another -"

The alien pulled out a slender handgun and squeezed the trigger. The man slumped over his controls, unconscious. The other was down before he could even cry out.

Councilor Tolan shoved aside the senseless form and started working.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Some action, finally! Sorry about the lacking characterisation - if I ever edit this, I'll do a lot of work on Carolyn. Anyway, enjoy and let me know what you thought!

* * *

"There is something wrong here, Cameron," Sam said hurriedly, as soon as the nearby aliens were out of earshot.

"I know, Jackson and Teal'c already told me some things."

"Did you notice, at the dinner, every single person in the room - about 200 or so - every one was right-handed."

"Actually, no."

"And when I asked one of the scientists if he was married, he said gave me an odd sort of look and then said no, but half an hour later he introduced me to his wife!"

"Speaking of which, the governor didn't even have a wife. And no one even started in about how smart their kids were, or even mentioned their families."

"Right. And at these kinds of events, there's usually some characters that you meet. The people who are the life of the party, the ones who like to tell stories, or the ones who just sit in a corner. But there was no one like that."

"Same style of talking, no idiosyncrasies or anything to remember them by."

Sam nodded. "I met over 50 people today, and it was as if... almost as if they were all the same person!"

Cameron's eyes widened. "Sam, you don't think -"

She shook her head. "I don't know anything for sure. But I think we need to talk to General Landry."

Cameron nodded. "Jackson's off with some diplomat, but Teal'c and I were going to call home early anyway."

"I was going to meet with the R&D director, but -"

"No, you go ahead. Unless there's something you want to tell Landry?"

"Well," Sam considered. "I do have a theory, but not much evidence."

"How did I know you'd say that?"

Sam grinned. "I always have a theory. But I don't think you should mention this to the general, I'm not even sure if it'll last the evening."

"So I tell him that I've got a bad feeling, Jackson's got a hunch, and Teal'c's instinct tells him something's wrong, but Samantha Carter has a theory."

Sam smiled. "At least it sounds better than just saying that I suspect something."

Cameron only laughed and shook his head as she walked away.

* * *

"Carolyn, I don't think this is entirely necessary. I'm sure it's just a sprain, there's no need for all of this," Dr. Lee complained as he sat on the medical gurney.

Dr. Lam just held out her hand. "Glasses, please."

Dr. Lee sighed and handed them over. "But they're plastic - oh, right, they have metal screws."

Carolyn handed the glasses to a nurse, who took them well out of range of the MRI unit. She turned back to the unit to finish making preparations for the scan.

"You wouldn't've batted an eyelid if I'd done this lifting a cooking pot. Next time I sprain my wrist I'll make sure I don't do it within a hundred feet of an alien device."

"Almost ready, Dr. Lee. Now, if you'll just lie down and hold still, this won't take long."

"All right, all right."

Carolyn heard the sound of the door opening, and frowned. It must be one of the nurses, but she hadn't forgotten anything, had she?

"Oh, hello, Ambassador Idr -"

She heard a thump and jumped as she looked down to see Dr. Lee's unconscious face. Carolyn spun around.

The alien ambassador was standing there, raising his weapon to fire again. Carolyn screamed, and then her fingers found the switch that activated the MRI unit. The powerful 1.5 tesla magnetic field activated, pulling the weapon into the chamber. Following the handgun came the ambassador himself; Carolyn yelled for help as she saw the alien hit the side of the chamber with a bone-shattering crunch.

She leapt for the switch that deactivated the MRI scanner, and dragged the prone ambassador onto the gurney.

"Dr. Lam, are you all right?" Nurse Ayers came running into the room when she saw the two unconscious figures.

"Help me get him up here, I think there may be spinal damage..."

Together, the two women managed to lift the ambassador onto the gurney. Dr. Lam checked for a pulse, and her face paled as she found none.

"Carolyn? Carolyn?!" Nurse Ayers' voice had a panicked edge.

"What -" Carolyn swung around and saw what the nurse was looking at. The ambassador's arm had broken, but instead of torn flesh and blood, she saw intricate wiring curling around a metal femur.

"Oh, my - " Without thinking she ran to the phone and dialed the general's cell.

Landry answered on the first ring. "Hi, Carolyn, what's -"

"Dad, Dad, we've got a problem here. Ambassador Idris just came in, and he shot Dr. Lee. I think he's -"

"What! I'm sending a security detachment down there on the -"

"Dad, listen, I turned on the MRI and - " A note of panic crept into her voice. "He's not really human at all, I think he's a -"

But the general wasn't listening. "Just a second, Councilor, I'll - "

Carolyn heard the phone fall to the desk, followed by a thump. The line went dead.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. You're going into shock, her mind told her. Carolyn dialed the operations room. There was no answer.

She slammed down the phone and blinked back her tears. Now of all times she needed to think clearly. Ambassador Idris was dead - if he ever was even alive - and her father was unconscious. There was no one in the operations room - the base had been - Carolyn searched for the word - compromised.

She picked up the phone and selected the intercom. "This is Dr. Lam, I am sending this infirmary into quarantine, effective immediately."

She keyed in the codes on her computer and watched as the heavy metal doors slid shut.

* * *

Theirs was an odd situation, thought Teal'c as he walked through the now-silent courtyard with Colonel Mitchell. They all agreed that something was wrong, yet none of them knew what. Caution was good, and so they would keep Earth informed, but they all hoped that nothing would come of their suspicions.

Teal'c had spent some of the time there reading some of the planet's political records, and now he voiced some of his concerns aloud. "Cader has the potential to become a very powerful ally, Colonel Mitchell. They possess massive resources in technology and personnel. If they so wished, they could also become a very deadly enemy."

"I know," Cameron sighed. "So if they find out we suspect them, it would make it harder for us to keep their friendship."

"Indeed. And if they truly are hiding something and suspect that we may have discovered it, they will not hesitate to immediately retaliate in any way they see fit."

"We lose both ways, eh?"

"That does appear to be most likely."

"But we still need to let the general know."

Teal'c nodded, and they lapsed into silence as they approached the stately gateroom. Two sentries stood watch at the massive doors.

"Hey, fellas, mind if we use the gate?" Cameron asked.

"I'm sorry, sir, you cannot use the Stargate at this time," replied one of the sentries.

Cameron and Teal'c exchanged glances. They hadn't expected this.

"Wait a minute, your governor said that we could use the gate any time we needed."

"We only wish to contact our world," Teal'c added. "Your governor has given us much information of interest regarding the developments between our worlds. By preventing us from accessing the gate, you will prohibit us from making decisions which will ultimately benefit your people."

"You cannot use the Stargate now," repeated the sentry.

"I don't know about you guys, but my government isn't going to look to favorably on you if you won't even let us use the gate to call them. In fact, I might just consider taking a few items of our trading list."

"You may not use the Stargate."

"Oh, come on! Listen, why don't you get on the phone or radio or whatever communications device you have and call the governor. He told me personally that we could use the Stargate whenever we wanted, and I'd be very interested to know whether or not he still feels that way."

"You may not use the Stargate."

"Who do these orders come from?" thundered Teal'c.

They were silent.

"I bet I know, " said Cameron. "Governor Thallus. Right?"

He reached towards the door, but before he had even touched it, the sentry had lashed out and knocked him to the ground. Teal'c saw the other moving towards him, and caught his fist before it could reach his face. His eyes widened in surprise as he felt the strength of his opponent's arm. The man was a head shorter than him and very slight, but his strength was almost overpowering. Teal'c blocked another strike and swung around to retaliate. He heard a shot fired, and then ducked as he saw Colonel Mitchell's pistol fly through the air past his head. Teal'c converted the motion into a vicious head-butt, which he immediately regretted. It felt like he had rammed his head into a tree, and his opponent barely faltered. Teal'c turned and tried to ram the sentry into the hard stone door, but to no avail. He saw the other sentry coming toward him, and looked for Colonel Mitchell, but the smaller man was already lying unconscious on the marble floor. Teal'c drove a violent back kick into his opponent, and then the world turned and he heard the sickening sound of stone on bone. He wondered if it had been him or the sentry, but then the world turned black and he knew no more.

* * *

**A/N:** On second thought -this has a ton of cliffies. Please don't kill me! 


	4. Chapter 4

** Author's Note:** Hmmm, been a while since I updated. Anyway, here's the next part - and it has Dr. Novak in it! I love her character and wish they'd do more with her. And Lam, too, for that case. Enjoy and happy Thanksgiving!

* * *

"So what do we have?" asked Dr. Lee.

Carolyn sighed as she swung her legs idly over the side of the examination table. "We have fifteen people in the infirmary. Twelve of us are conscious, seven are mobile. We're sealed in by three foot thick steel doors, and we have enough food and water for three months, if you count intravenous feedings... we don't know what's going on outside, but if everything were all right, someone should have called us by now. We have our own air, power, and water supply thanks to the renovations after the Ori plague. The only people who can call off the quarantine are myself and General Landry. It's most likely that Councilor Tolan has taken over the base, gained a, a, foothold. He could bring in more of his people by the gate and there isn't a thing we can do about it."

"Well, there's always something," said Dr. Lee, sounding more positive than he looked.

"Hey! Dr. Lee, Dr. Lam, don't leave me out!" Dr. Novak's voice floated out of the room where she was lying with her leg in traction.

"Sorry," said Carolyn, and they all moved closer to her room.

"I was able to get some information off the network before it went down," Dr. Novak explained. "Look what I found. Someone has sent the base into lockdown. The network records two calls from Homeworld Security coming in immediately after, but then someone disabled the exterior phone lines. So at least the people at Homeworld will come looking for us. I got some recordings off the security cameras. It's Tolan all right. But he's alone."

"Was alone," Dr. Lee added darkly.

"Mmmm. Well, the network's down, or else I might have been able to do something."

"Is there anything we can do?" Carolyn asked.

The phone rang before anyone could answer. Dr. Lee leapt for it. "Here's hoping that this is Landry asking us what in the world we think we're doing..." He picked up the phone, and his expression darkened as he listened. He looked up at Carolyn. "It's for you."

Carolyn took the phone with shaking hands. "Lam here."

"Dr. Lam, this is Councilor Tolan. I suggest that you end your futile quarantine right away."

Carolyn swallowed. "Not a chance."

"I promise that none of you will be harmed."

"I've got a better idea," Carolyn lied. "We've got Ambassador Idris here, and unless you immediately return control to SGC personnel, I will personally pick apart his metal brain until there isn't a scrap of information left."

"Ambassador Idris is no longer functional. And unless you comply, your father won't be either."

Carolyn's heart skipped a beat. "No, wait, you can't - "

"I think you'd better listen to what your father has to say."

"You can't do this!" Carolyn yelled, gripping the receiver violently.

"Carolyn. Carolyn, is that you?"

She felt a wave of comfort as she heard her father's voice; he was alive, at least. "Dad, what should I do? I can't let him kill you!"

"Carolyn, I -"

"Yes?"

"I want you to know that I love you. I always have, you know."

"Daddy, what should I do?" she cried desperately, forgetting her role as one of the world's best doctors. Right now she was simply a daughter.

"He loves you, he said," replied the sneering voice of the councilor. "You can't let him die, Carolyn. Stop the quarantine. Now."

Carolyn tried to collect her scattered thoughts. _My father loves me_, she thought, _no matter what I've done or what I'm going to do, he loves me. He wants me to stay here_, she realized. _He knew that I would make the...right... decision, and he knew I'd feel guilty if anything happened to him, so that's why he told me he loves me. _

_But I love him, too, and I can't let him die. Yet because I love him, I love what he stands for..._

"What will it be, Carolyn? Will you be the death of your own father, or will you save his life? End the quarantine."

"Go to h-l," Carolyn spat into the phone, then slammed it down onto its cradle, tears already coursing down her face.

* * *

"Now we know what they were hiding, but I still have no idea why," Sam sighed as she leaned against the cell door, carefully avoiding the force field.

"Wait, Sam, my head and hard floors do not agree with each other - we know what they were hiding?" Cameron asked.

"Ditto on that," Daniel added.

Sam looked at them, confused. "What, I didn't tell you?"

They shook their heads.

"Sorry. I thought it was obvious."

"Just like general relativity was obvious to Einstein?"

"These people are androids. Robots."

There was a small silence, then Teal'c spoke. "Indeed, Colonel Carter, it does seem very evident upon reflection. It would, for example, account for their immense strength."

"Lack of expression, boring personalities, terrible food..."

"So that's why Cader is a utopia!" Daniel exclaimed. "They did what wasn't humanly possible because they aren't humans. Of course, because a society like that can only exist when everyone is of the same mind and has the same goal, which they all have because they're all programmed to."

Sam nodded. "But none of this explains why they needed to hide this."

"Or why they decided they liked us better locked up," Cameron added.

"Well," said Daniel, gesturing to the hallway outside the cell, "Why don't we just ask?"

They stood up and saw Zdarin coming down the hallway with two others. All three of them wore sidearms._ So much for a pacifist society,_ Daniel thought.

"Zdarin, good to see you!" Cameron called out sarcastically. "Listen, we've got a bunch of new questions for you."

"Like how do you think Earth is going to react when we don't check in? We're already six hours overdue, they must have given you a call by now. And they don't buy cover stories easily." Daniel warned.

"Actually, I was going to ask if he'd ever seen_ I, Robot_," Cameron said.

"I wouldn't be surprised if these guys were the original inspiration," Carter murmured, watching their lifeless eyes blink and even water, their chests move up and down without breath.

Zdarin pressed a button, and the force field dissipated. He motioned for the other two to keep their weapons on the humans as he opened the cell door. Without a word he grabbed Cameron by the collar and pulled him out of the cell.

"You know," Cameron said as Zdarin sealed the cell door and reactivated the force field, "waving guns in people's faces could really hurt your career as a tour guide."

Sam, Daniel, and Teal'c watched silently as they disappeared down the long corridor.

* * *

"Eureka! Eureka, I have found it!" Dr. Lee jumped out of the chair and rushed to find Dr. Lam. "Carolyn? Did you hear what I said?"

"What did you find," Carolyn asked flatly.

"The solution to our problems. Cheer up, we're getting out of this after all - I hope. Now be a dear and get me my cell phone, that you took away for the MRI."

Carolyn really didn't feel like being a dear, but she set about to find it anyway. "You still haven't answered my question," she called as she searched.

"I found General O'Neill's private cell phone number!"

"You what?!"

"My computer was still networked with Sam's from the last time we were working together. It was a private network, so it didn't go down with the base network. She must have left her computer on, so all I had to do was search her phone book..."

"In case you didn't know, Dr. Lee, that's generally considered private information." Carolyn found the cell phone and tossed it to Dr. Lee. "And I already tried my cell, it doesn't work."

Dr. Lee flipped open the phone and started dialing. "That's because you aren't paranoid. I made some modifications to my phone - it's more of a satellite phone than a cell phone now. Now I just have to call General O'Neill, and he'll call in the cavalry, or marines, or whatever they call them nowadays."

"Ah, hello, General O'Neill?"

Carolyn managed a small smile. Maybe there was hope after all.

* * *

"Dr. Jackson was right, you know, they're going to come for us," Cameron said as his captors handcuffed him to a chair. "And I don't know what kind of firepower you've got, but if you haven't used it for a hundred years or so, I bet we can beat you left-handed."

"Your Stargate Command is no match for us. Or should I say was?" Zdarin said.

Cameron shifted nervously, and Zdarin's mouth curled in the imitation of a sneer. "Ah, the light dawns. You human creatures are so slow, you can't see such obvious things. It was too easy; your security technology was pathetic. One group put up some resistance in the infirmary, but they're dead now."

"Tell your stories to someone who will listen," Cameron said through clenched teeth.

"You're already listening. That's one thing about you biological creatures, you somehow know when something is true."

"What do you want?"

"There's only one thing you can give me, Cameron Mitchell. And it isn't information."

Cameron's eyes widened as understanding dawned, but it was too late; Zdarin had pulled the trigger and he was falling into blackness...

* * *

A/N: A lot of my chapters recently have ended with people blacking out. Too bad... and, as one of the privileged few, I resent that left-handed comment. Oh, wait... I wrote it. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:** Wow, it's been a while since I wrote this! And since I updated. Let's see, what's in this chapter... ah. Jack makes a cameo appearance, a mystery is solved, random humor occurs when Drs. Lee and Novak are in the same room, and things get worse.

* * *

The phone rang. Jack sighed and tried to remember which pocket he'd put it in, and why he hadn't turned it off. After several attempts he finally extricated it, then stuffed it under his noise dampening headphones. This had better be important.

"O'Neill."

"Ah, hello, General O'Neill?" The voice on the other end was strangely familiar, but Jack couldn't place it.

"Yeah, who's this?"

"General! This is Dr. Lee, Bill Lee, do you remember me? You know, the brilliant scientist everyone always ignores..."

"I didn't give you my cell phone number," Jack said.

"Um, yeah, no sir, but this is kind of an emergency. The SGC's gone into lockdown and we're in the infirmary, in quarantine, so -"

"I really didn't know that," Jack said sarcastically. "After all, right now I am in the air, flying a F-302 to Colorado Springs just to get you out of there. What's going on with you?"

"Oh, thank God, I told you, Carolyn, the cavalry's coming!! General, there's about 20 of us in the infirmary, Carolyn sent it into quarantine so we're isolated from the rest of the base, which in this case is actually good -"

"My name isn't Carolyn. And I'm flying a spaceship, not riding a horse."

"We've established a network link with some computer guys holding out on level ??, and Dr. Novak and I think we can help you once you get past level eleven, but Tolan's got a pretty tight grip on the controls systems, so - "

"Hold on just a minute, Bill. Don't go away. Let me write down your number..." Jack searched the cockpit for a pencil and paper, but couldn't find one.

"Sir, we're coming up on Colorado Springs," said his aide, from the backseat.

"Yeah, yeah. Here, write down this number..."

"Um, General?" Dr. Lee's voice still came out of the phone.

"Listen, Bill, I'm going to have to hang up soon, I think it'd be fun to try landing and talking on the phone at the same time, but unfortunately I'm not flying solo. I've given your number to some of the folks on the ground. Work with them, you hear? It's been good to hear from you."

"Same here, sir."

Jack flicked the handset shut and sent the fighter into a steep dive. This was going to be the world's fastest - safe - landing.

* * *

"There's nothing there, Daniel, just a few scratchings," Sam said to the archaeologist, who was feeling around the cell walls. "Teal'c and I already went over as much as we could."

"Once more couldn't hurt," Daniel replied absently.

"I guess not." Sam went back to her discussion with Teal'c. "Why would anyone create power-craving robots? Robots are servants, and anyone with the capability to build this kind of robot had to know how dangerous they could be. It's got to be something else."

"Perhaps these are warrior robots that were originally purposed for large-scale conquest. Or they may have been designed to protect this world, and eliminate any threats to its security."

"Then where are their creators? And what do they want with us? What do they want with Earth? It can't be resources, there's plenty here..."

Daniel dragged his hand slowly along the wall, not really expecting to find anything. All he felt were bumps in the stone, though there were surprisingly few of those. He was thinking hard, too, but the only thing he could deduce for sure he didn't like. Finally he spoke. "Look, I hate to say this, but I think we can reasonably guess that the SGC has been compromised."

Sam and Teal'c looked at him, and there was little surprise in their expressions.

"We know they would've come looking for us by now. And if all Sam says about these robots is true, it wouldn't be too hard for them to beat our security. If they could just get on the right networks, they could even do things through the open Stargate. Now, I doubt that these robots could take a load of bullets and still be operational, but since they're on a diplomatic mission, people probably wouldn't suspect them until it was too late."

Sam sighed. "But then why would they lock us up? To keep us from finding out about it, of course," she answered her own question. "Wait. Then why did they take Cameron? If they do have the SGC, they wouldn't need anything from him. They'd know it all already."

"Perhaps they do not yet have complete control of Stargate Command," said Teal'c.

Daniel's fingers paused over an odd series of bumps. He rubbed his hand back over them again.

"I don't know, Teal'c. If they wanted to find out about the control systems, they wouldn't want Cameron, they'd want me. It's got to be something else..."

It felt familiar, somehow. Daniel rubbed his hand over once more, closing his eyes and trying to visualize the pattern the bumps made.

"Oh, no."

Daniel heard the horror in his friend's voice. Concerned, he opened his eyes and saw that she had gone pale. "Sam, you all right?"

"What is it, Colonel Carter?"

"Someone please tell me I am wrong...I don't think they want him for any information. I think they want him for his face. Because if they haven't got the SGC yet, or even if they have and want the Alpha Site... they'd need someone with his position to help them, to fool our people into...They could do it. I've seen their technology, and in order for anyone to build robots this intelligent, they'd need to be able to build an artificial brain, and that would mean completely understanding the human brain. They'd have to do something like that here, because we don't have the facilities on Earth." Sam was almost speaking to herself now. "They could've been bringing in key people from the SGC and doing this, too. And we would be next."

Daniel hoped that he'd misunderstood. "You think they're going to brainwash us and use us against Earth?"

"More like re-program. Yes." Sam gave a bitter laugh. "In its own repulsive way, it makes complete sense."

Daniel slammed his fist into the wall. "Sam, we've got to do something, we've got to - "

"Daniel!"

He looked up. "Wha -" Somewhere within the wall, a mechanism had deployed and part of the smooth stone in front of him had slid away. Daniel had sworn he hadn't felt any edges, any indication whatsoever of a panel, yet there it was. And inside the compartment were weapons.

"What happened, Daniel? I thought the whole cell was solid!" Sam and Teal'c were already taking the weapons out and arming themselves.

"I - I don't know." As the weapons disappeared, Daniel saw a design take shape on the back of the compartment. No, not a design, a map... and the writing was in Ancient.

Teal'c had noticed it to. "What does it say, Daniel Jackson?"

Daniel re-read the main inscription and then frowned. "'Press here.'"

Teal'c reached out and shoved against the panel, but nothing happened.

"It's also a map of some sort," Daniel mused. "That's strange, it doesn't look like any of the corridors around here. Maybe it's something else.."

Teal'c tried again, but still nothing happened. "It does not appear to work, Daniel Jackson."

"I wonder why not." Then Daniel's eyes lit up. "Of course! The writing is in Ancient, so -" He reached out and pressed the panel. To their right, another opening appeared in the smooth stone, this one wide and tall enough for them to walk through.

"What was it, Daniel?" Sam asked, puzzled.

He smiled. "I had the gene therapy before I missed the Daedelus." Daniel grabbed a weapon and followed the others into the narrow passageway.

"So, Teal'c, this would be our tenth time saving the world?"

"Eleventh, Colonel Carter."

* * *

"Well, that should at least keep that robot from interrupting any more of our calls," Dr. Novak said as she put down her stylus.

"So what do we do now?" Dr. Lee asked from his place nearby.

"We wait for the guys in the computer lab to set up a network with General O'Neill's men. From what they've told me, it's not going to be easy."

"Well, if we're just waiting, I call first dibs on the autopsy."

"Autopsy? That's Carolyn's division."

"Not this one. The robot, Idris. Since Sam's not here to get her hands on it, I want it when we get out of here."

"Hey! I wanted that robot. And since the technology is probably closer to Asgard than anything else, I'm the most qualified to work with it."

Dr. Lee snorted. "Lindsey, I've been tinkering with robots since before you were born. At least I think so. When were you born?" Dr. Novak glared at him, but Dr. Lee just ignored her. "My star science fair project was in robotics. Well, sort of. I won a special prize at the international science fair."

"What, Intel ISEF? For your information, Bill, I took second place in engineering in my senior year. My project was pretty robotics-related, I remember. Oh, and I got a special award from the Air Force, too."

"Mine was from NASA."

"But you didn't place in the competition, I bet."

"It's the curse of my life. All my brilliance is never properly recognized."

Novak laughed. "That's because there's nothing to recognize."

"Says Dr. Second-place!"

"Hey, it was Rodney McKay who won first prize. Sam Carter took the whole division a few years before, I remember."

"Small world. But I still get dibs on Idris."

"Oh, come on, Bill, just give me a hand?"

They both got a laugh out of that. "You can have a leg," Dr. Lee relented.

Novak looked ruefully at her leg, still in traction after a week. "I sure need one."

"What happened, anyway?" Dr. Lee asked. "I actually thought you were still on the Daedelus until I saw you here."

"It was Hermiod," Dr. Novak answered. "We were going through some checks while we were orbiting Earth, and I got too close to some of his pet instruments."

"You what?" Dr. Lee chortled.

"Not funny. For a little guy he packs a big punch."

Dr. Lee was laughing hard now. "Hermiod did that?!"

Dr. Novak ignored him and picked up her computer, as an abstracted look settled across her face. "Actually, I wonder if these robots use a communication method similar to the Replicators - I think Hermoid gave me some old data on Replicarter's cells. If it's similar enough I may even be able to network with the robot..."

Dr. Lee shook his head. It was a long shot. "Good luck," he said.

"Or, should I say, break a leg?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:** After a rather lengthy sojourn, we get back into the thick of things...

* * *

"Sam, I think they've spotted us!" Daniel whispered violently as he heard footsteps echoing in the corridor.

Sam swore. That was fast! They'd just gotten out of the small passageways and were heading in what they hoped was the right direction. Maybe there was a dampening element of some sort in the secret tunnels, Sam thought. That would explain why the robots hadn't detected them yet.

"Colonel Carter, there are three sentries down this way."

"Good, let's go." Sam broke into a jog to keep up with Teal'c. Sentries were good; that meant they had something - or someone - to guard, and Sam could only think of one person that might be.

She silently motioned Teal'c and Daniel into position, on the rare chance that they could surprise the sentries. The robots seemed to be in perfect communication with each other, and they were faster and more accurate than any humans could be. What a nightmare of an enemy. Fortunately, the weapons Daniel had found in the locker were excellent - light, lethal, and accurate. They took care of the robots just fine.

Sam saw one of the sentries move, and motioned to start the attack. Fire flew through the hall, and Sam was glad she hadn't waited any longer. Two of the sentries fell at the first shot, and the third only had a chance to squeeze off three shots before he was down.

They ran to the door, only to find it sealed shut. Sam spied a panel and tore it off. But the complex circuitry was like nothing she'd seen before. Come on, Sam, she told herself as she started looking for patterns. There would be more robots here soon, and unless she could get this door open, they would be in a terrible position.

"Here, Sam," Daniel said, then reached out and touched one of the buttons.

Sam's eyes widened as the door swished open. Automatically unlocks for the Ancient gene? she thought as she raised her weapon. It was a lab of some kind, and Sam instantly saw the two surgeons bending over the unconscious form of Colonel Mitchell. Without hesitating she angrily pulled the trigger, watching with immense satisfaction as the robot keeled over and fell. Teal'c had already dispatched the other one, and Daniel was running to Cameron.

"Colonel Carter, watch out!"

Sam had barely had any time to glance around before she felt Teal'c propel her into the room and swing her out of the doorway, where a thick metal blast door was falling into place.

"Thanks, Teal'c," she said, as they both went to assist Daniel.

"How is he?" she asked.

"No way to tell," Daniel responded, unfastening the restraints that bound the colonel to the operating table. "There's no blood, they may not have even started."

"Let's hope so," Sam said, but it'd been over an hour since they'd last seen him. With the technology - and inhuman speed - that the robots possessed - well, anything was possible.

Sam frowned and shook the colonel. If they wanted to get off the planet alive, they'd need everyone conscious. To say the least.

"Cameron," she said. He didn't respond. Sam hoped that whatever they'd drugged him with wasn't very strong, and then belatedly realized that robots would have no reason to have any anesthesia on hand at all.

"Cameron, wake up, it's me, Sam."

* * *

From a long way off he heard a voice, a soft voice, calling his name. He heard it again, and felt himself gradually coming out of the deep chasm he was lying in; then suddenly, the voice was drowned out by many others, hundreds of others, and some were not even voices as much as pictures, thoughts...

They were flooding in, carrying him away; he looked for an anchor but only found chaos. Voices called to each other, and he heard them, saying something about a door, a barricade, an explosive and of things they were planning, of death for millions upon millions. He heard what they were saying to him, too, of what he must do, and they were getting louder and louder, closer and closer. Where was the voice that had woken him? And where was his own? He struggled to quiet the voices, but could not.

"Cameron, it's me, Sam." There it was again; he seized it and opened his eyes. He knew a Sam, and as a face came into focus, he saw the piercing blue eyes and recognized her. Sam. She was from Earth - no, they were all from Earth, except Teal'c.

"Cam, are you ok?"

His head spun as he pulled himself up. "Yeah.." Cam - that was him; these other people, they were a team, and he was their leader. What had happened? Where were they, what was going on? He looked around at the room they were in; it was strange, once he'd recognized it he knew exactly where they were, and what passages led away in which direction and what other places were nearby. The voices kept getting closer, and he thought that maybe they were from people who were coming...

"What's going on?" he asked, confused.

"Daniel and Teal'c are looking for a way out of here," Sam said, and handed him a weapon. He took it, surprised that he didn't recognize its make - or did that surprise come not from him but from someone else?

"They might think we're trapped in here and leave us alone for a while, which gives us some time. We think the SGC may have been compromised, though, so we'll probably have to dial the Alpha Site."

The SGC? Compromised? Cameron saw steel doors sliding down, someone firing a weapon, and one of the alien ambassadors controlling the Stargate. And then he remembered why they had come to this planet called Cader, but he couldn't actually recall arriving here.

"Cameron, are you sure you're all right?"

He tried to focus and separate his own thoughts from the other voices. "I'm fine," he said, and stood up. The room quaked and rocked, but he pulled himself together; he'd been through worse, and they were obviously in a serious situation. "How's it coming, guys?" he called.

"Hey, nice to see you up again! Sam, the gene override doesn't work with that new door, but I think there should be another one somewhere in here, Teal'c and I are looking for it," Daniel said, helping Teal'c tear down a shelf that was obscuring a large part of the wall. Cameron walked over to join them. "Carter, see what you can do about the door..." What was this about a gene override? Somehow Cameron felt that he should have known if anything like that existed.

Daniel gave a crow of triumph. "Got it! Looks like we're out of here!" He touched a portion of the wall, and a doorway appeared.

"Right, let's go." Cameron looked back at the thick steel door; he heard voices shouting at him not to go into the passage, to stop the others...

He ignored them and stepped through behind the others.

* * *

"Captain, why aren't those doors open yet? You've got a whole department working with you, and our two scientists trapped in the infirmary have gotten farther than you have," Jack demanded.

The young captain shifted nervously. "They'll be open soon, sir. We're having a little trouble trying to get our computers to work fast enough to enter the override code before it changes again."

"I don't care what you do as long as you get them open. Now, listen up. I'm going to go find my strike team and then get a really big gun. If those doors are not open by the time I get back..." Jack paused, considering. "I'll have to wait. And I hate waiting!"

"Yes, sir." The captain saluted.

Jack gave a distracted half-salute in return. He heard the captain mutter as he walked off: "But it'd be a lot easier if there were someone to roll away the stone." Jack shook his head as he went to find a weapon. This guy was clever, but he couldn't even open a set of doors.

Wait a minute. Had he just implied that the SGC was a tomb? Jack swore, and promised himself that that was not going to happen, not on his command.

He took off his sunglasses and looked at his watch. They'd been working on the door for half an hour already. Where was Sam Carter when he needed her?


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:** Ok, so this is the climax, but it pretty much sucks. I can't belive I wrote this...

* * *

Daniel followed the others down the small passage, keeping an eye out for any hostile robots. He wondered if the others had recognized the significance of what they had found. True, they were preoccupied with trying to save the world, but they had to at least suspect. The Ancient gene-activated escape route - to Daniel that indicated only one thing. This place had been built by the Ancients. Maybe it had been taken over a long time ago by the robots, but he didn't think that was likely. It was more logical that the gatebuilders were also the robot builders. Carter had said that the technology on this planet was maybe even better than the Asgard's, and to Daniel, that spelled Ancient. He guessed that the Ancients had built the robots for carrying out mundane tasks, and built in safety features to prevent them from taking over. But then where were the Ancients?

Daniel spied another panel, the largest he'd seen yet, and stopped. "You want to try this way?" he asked.

Cameron looked back. Maybe it was the dim light, but to Daniel he looked a lot better than he had in the operating room. "Might be a good idea, we may be having company soon."

What was that all about? Daniel wondered, and pressed on the panel.

This time, instead of a door appearing, the wall disappeared. As Daniel instinctively stepped back, he found his eyes drawn upwards, following a long line of soft blue lights that illuminated the vast chamber. It extended down almost as far as it went up, and the whole cavern was filled with cases of some sort. They looked so familiar...

"Hibernation capsules," Sam breathed.

Daniel's jaw dropped as he realized that she was right. There had to be thousands of them! Irresistibly drawn to them, Daniel stepped forward onto the narrow walkway that extended around and across the room. He came to the nearest one, and peered inside the frosted covering. A shiver of delight ran up his spine as he saw the face, the style of dress.

So this was where the robot's masters had gone.

"Daniel Jackson, come look at this," Teal'c called. Daniel tore himself away and entered the long walkway to the center, which was suspended hundreds of feet above the floor. He looked at the spot Teal'c indicated. It was a sort of mural, inlaid on the railings of the walkway. Daniel quickly started to translate, and his heart began to beat faster as he realized its significance. "Guys, I think you should definitely look at this."

"What is it?" Sam asked as she and Cameron walked over.

"This," Daniel explained, "Is the real history of Cader."

"In case you haven't noticed, we're sort of trying to escape here," Cameron said, and Daniel glared at him impatiently.

"Seven hundred thousand years ago, the Ancients colonized Cader. It was their outermost planet in our galaxy, making intergalactic travel slightly easier; one might think of it as a sort of port. Evidently it was also their last outpost. According to this, the Ancients hadn't yet learned to ascend when they learned that their sun was going to go nova. Since they didn't want the Wraith following them in from Atlantis, they chose not to abandon Cader. They built these robots to take care of their base - this isn't a planet at all, it's only an enclosed portion - and to enlarge it until it covered the whole planet. It says they put some kind of material in their robots that would prevent them from using the Stargate, I guess they didn't want to colonize another world. Anyhow, they all went into hibernation, so that when the sun cooled or the base was completed, the robots could revive them again. "

"Wait, but Cader's been here for thousands of years since then," Sam interrupted. "Couldn't the robots have easily finished construction by now?"

"I guess not, maybe they ran out of resources. And not being able to go through the Stargate to get them limits them severely. I wonder how the other two got through to Earth...Sam, there's about 7,000 Ancients here, unascended Ancients! Imagine what we could learn from them! We have to revive them," Daniel said earnestly.

"We don't have much time," Sam said, but hurried on to what looked like a control console on the middle of the catwalk. "But I'll see what I can do."

"At the very least, they might be able to help us turn the robots off," Daniel said as he lengthened his stride to keep up.

Sam stopped at the first console. "Help, Daniel, my Ancient's not so good."

"I didn't know you knew any," Daniel murmured as his eyes scanned quickly over the lines. "OK - not this one, this has something to do with life support in the pods... over here, here's something about... oh no."

"What is it, Daniel Jackson?" queried Teal'c.

"Sam, this whole setup has to be powered by -"

"ZPM's. At least two, I should say," cut in Sam.

"Yeah, and they're almost out. We can't revive all of them without killing a whole bunch more."

"All we need is one... I suppose they must've kept their power source separate so the robots couldn't gain control," Sam mused as she looked over the controls.

"They're coming," Mitchell interrupted abruptly.

Daniel looked at him, wondering how he knew. "Riight. We've got to hurry up, Sam."

"No, we've got to leave, get through the Gate, figure out what's going on at the SGC and find a way to take it back. Preferably before these robots catch up to us," said Cameron.

Why did they always make the greatest discoveries in the middle of escapes? "Look, we need to try to revive at least one," Daniel pleaded. "It could be the key we need to get rid of these robots."

"And he'd be half-unconscious and of no use whatsoever while we're trying to get out of here. Besides, this panel doesn't say anything about reviving individuals, it seems to only deal with waking everyone up. But this one..."

Daniel squinted at the colonel in confusion. "Since when did you speak Ancient?"

"This one's a self-destruct."

Daniel's jaw dropped. He saw a look pass between Teal'c and Mitchell, and his eyes widened in horror. "Don't even think about it! This is the most important find in the whole Stargate program so far; we've spent years and years and billions of dollars looking for this! Just because we're being chased by a pack of homicidal androids doesn't mean we have to blow the whole place up! It's - it's..." Daniel paused to take a breath and gather all the thoughts that were spilling forward and flooding his mind.

Sam stepped forward, concerned. "Cam, are you absolutely sure that you're all right?"

He nodded absently.

"How could he be?" Daniel said, "Do you know he's just casually suggested that we throw away the past eight years of all our work just to make sure we aren't followed through the gate? Which won't happen anyway because the robots can't go anywhere near it? Mitchell, I hate to say this, but I think the robots have done something to your head."

Cameron turned to face him, and Daniel caught his breath at the strange look in his eye. "You're right, Jackson," he said in a tense voice. "The robots did do something to my head. I can hear them right now; they're coming, they'll be here soon. I know what they want to do. What they want me to do. They want to make a home for the Ancients. That's why they exist. But they've seen our galaxy now, they know it isn't a ...proper...place for the Ancients to live. Yet. They've seen the Ori and the Goa'uld, the Asgard and the Jaffa and us. The Ancients don't exist anymore, and the robots aren't going to let them until they've remodeled the galaxy. They're starting with Earth already. Then they'll take on everyone else. We won't be able to stop them, no one will. Right now we have one chance, to end this before it even starts. And..."

He turned aside, momentarily distracted as new voices burst into his consciousness. They were loud now, more than just the faint whisper he'd heard earlier. The walls of the ancient passageways had muted them somehow, but now they were back, hurling him into a confused world of shouts and flashing images. He heard Teal'c and Sam and Daniel speaking, but it was just phrases, nothing made sense.

"They're Ancients..."

"What if he's right? We've got to consider..."

"Over 7000..."

"...is correct. The situation at present is..."

"Teal'c's right, we've got to..."

"...Earth before..."

"...we can't just kill them!"

Suddenly one thing was clear, and Cameron shouted for them to take cover. Seconds later a pack of robots entered the room, weapons blazing. Then everything spiraled back into madness as the voices dug into his mind. He knew he had his weapon raised and was firing at the robots, but then something told him that Teal'c was the enemy, and he had to fight to keep his sights trained on the robots. He had a violent urge to fire at the Ancient console, to push Daniel over the edge of the catwalk ...

Cameron dropped his weapon and closed his eyes, trying to shut out the foreign voices and find his own.

It seemed like an eternity had passed before he could hold on to two thoughts: Get SG-1 out alive. And then get the SGC back.

"Carter!" he yelled, and she understood.

"It's gene activated, Daniel, I need your help!" she called from her position near the last console.

Cameron saw the struggle in the archaeologist's eyes before he ducked across the passageway to help Sam. He didn't want to do this either, but since they didn't have anything that could blow up the Stargate, this was their only option.

"Ten minutes?" Sam yelled as she ducked to avoid a projectile.

Cameron visualized the route they would have to take. They could get to the Stargate within five minutes if the robots let them; Cameron knew they would, because there was a robot waiting for them on Earth, who could march them back to Cader at gunpoint and make them disable the self-destruct. And if Sam set the self-destruct for only five minutes, the robots would feel a more urgent need to keep them on Cader - and they'd either end up as experimental subjects or nuclear ash. The robots might win either way - but Cameron would rather take his chances with one than with one thousand.

"Ten's fine," he hollered. Then the voices surged up once more, wiping every distinct thought from his mind. He was vaguely aware of running, shouting, shooting, and they were away from the chamber. The voices subsided as they were left behind, but soon they emerged again, and there were more of them. Cameron struggled to remember the way, and saw smooth white stones pass under his feet in a blur as smooth white walls flashed past. He knew that Carter and Teal'c had spoken to him, and maybe he had answered, but he couldn't remember saying anything.

When he could think again, he saw they were in the gateroom. Daniel was running to the DHD while Sam anxiously checked her watch.

"We've got one minute, Daniel," Sam said. Daniel was already dialing the Alpha site.

They all relaxed when he dialed the seventh symbol - but nothing happened.

"What's wrong?" Sam demanded as she moved over to check.

"I don't know, for some reason it's not engaging," Daniel replied, dialing again.

Cameron heard a sort of laughter at the back of his mind, and began to have the distinct feeling that somehow these bastards had fixed the Gate...

"Try dialing Chulak," Teal'c suggested, and Daniel dialed.

Nothing happened.

"Dial Earth," Cam sighed bitterly. "The iris will be open."

Daniel looked at Sam for confirmation, and she nodded reluctantly. "We're running out of time," she said softly.

The wormhole leaped into existence, and SG-1 stepped through the event horizon.

It was like hitting the iris, Cameron thought as he emerged from the Gate and found his mind bombarded with vicious probes. There was only one voice this time, but it was powerful, so powerful, and relentless - he could feel it striving to control him, and he fought it. The voice swept through his mind, leaving him shattered and weak, struggling to gather his failing resistance to prepare for the next attack. But was it really worth it? Maybe the galaxy would be better off with the robots there and the Ancients back... they could destroy the Ori, the Goa'uld, the Wraith...

He saw a great government rising once more, building beautiful cities, grand centers of civilization, decades and centuries of peace. Human, Jaffa, Asgard, all races lived in harmony, sharing technology and working together for the good of all. No, he told himself, that can never happen, not in this world. But he could feel himself weakening, and to his horror he saw his arm raising his weapon towards the others. He willed himself to drop the weapon, but the voice drove through him once again and he found that his hand no longer obeyed him.

"Stop," he said, in a voice that wasn't his own, that was forced past all his crumbling barriers of resistance. "Don't move."

He saw them stop short and turn towards him, weapons raised and suspicion in their eyes.

"Lower your weapons," he said.

Then the door to the gateroom slid open, and a tall robot strode out, two of his own weapons raised. Teal'c, Sam, and Daniel spun to face the new enemy, and might have fired except that they were acutely aware of Cameron's own weapon trained on them.

"I am over 50 times faster than you organic creatures," Tolan announced, "So if you know what's good for you, you'll put down your weapons."

The three reluctantly lowered the guns to their sides.

Something inside Cameron cried out, and his hand trembled as he fought to lower his own treacherous weapon.

Sam turned to him, and he saw the pain in her eyes; it slipped like a dagger into his heart. "Cam, you can't do this," she said softly.

"Sam..." His voice faltered as he tried once more to drop the weapon, and met only with a disorienting barrage of thought.

She stepped forward, and he said, "If you take one more step I'll kill you."

She stopped. He could see a whole world in her deep blue eyes, a world of hurt and betrayal and pain. But he saw that she trusted him. She knew he couldn't kill her, but he wasn't sure if he knew that himself.

Sam took another step.

Cameron felt his finger tighten on the trigger.

Then a startled voice echoed through his mind, and he paused while the confusion drowned him. "No!" the voice was crying, and he knew it was the robot's voice, but hadn't it been the robot who'd wanted Sam dead, and made him say so? Or had it been him...

But all thought was carried away from him as a deluge of images flooded in. He saw Sam and Daniel and Teal'c standing by the robot's side, and their eyes were empty and dead even though they were alive. He saw himself, too, and wondered if that was how he looked now. He saw General O'Neill leading a team down towards the gateroom, saw his face light up as he saw Sam, and then die with the smile still on his face, her bullet in his heart. He saw himself standing nearby as the steel doors around the infirmary rose up, saw Dr. Lam come out with a relieved smile, saw himself murder her in cold blood. He saw Daniel turn against General Landry, he saw Teal'c kill Bra'tac as brother turned against brother and father against son. And on their graves he saw the robots lay the foundation for their new galaxy.

The robot didn't just want him; it wanted them all.

Cameron turned and fired as a resurgence of energy flooded through him.

Ambassador Tolan fell to the ground, smoke curling up from his form.

Cameron closed his eyes and let out a ragged breath as the voice finally ceased and he found he could simply open his fingers for the weapon to slip to the ground.

The crash of the gun on the metal ramp echoed through the silent gateroom.

Cameron opened his eyes as he felt the anger, indignation, energy, everything drain away. "You can go ahead and shoot me if you want," he said. "I don't think I'd really mind."

"Is he the only one?" Sam said instead, motioning towards the still figure of the robot.

"Yeah," Cameron nodded, then groaned inwardly as he realized something. "But he programmed the auto-destruct to activate if he was killed."

Sam hurried to the control room, followed by the others. Cameron knew that Teal'c, by unspoken agreement, was keeping a close eye on him, but he didn't care. The voices were gone, and he had his own back now. And he'd never heard it so clearly before.

Sam was tapping away on the keyboard, entering the codes to abort the self-destruct, while Daniel worked on raising the bulkheads and restoring power.

Sam frowned at the computer. "This isn't working... the robot must have changed the codes."

Of course he had, Cameron remembered, and wondered why he hadn't said so earlier. The tin can hadn't made it easy, either, it was some wicked algorithm that would've made his head ache if it hadn't been pounding already. He decided simply to tell Sam all he knew and hope that she could figure it out.

Daniel gave Cameron a queer look as he saw the colonel join Sam at the keyboard. "Whatever the robots did must've raised your IQ a couple hundred points," he commented.

Cameron gave a tired smile. Somehow he didn't think brain-turned-to-mush constituted a raise in IQ.

At least Sam's brain was fully operational, and in high gear. Her fingers flew across the keyboard as she tried to work out the correct codes.

"Someone is coming," Teal'c said, and took up a position near the door.

Daniel frowned. "I thought all the robots were gone.."

"Hey, T! Good to see ya!" A familiar voice floated down the corridor.

"Jack!" Daniel cried as the general entered the operations room.

"General," the two colonels said as they saluted.

Jack waved off the salutes as he smiled at Sam. Then it turned into a frown as he noticed what she was working on, and said, "Carter, how many times do I have to tell you, when you're in the middle of saving the world you don't need to salute!"

"Right, sir," Sam said as she turned back to the keyboard.

"So did you guys kill my robot for me? I'd thought there was going to be some action, not just a walk into the ol' gateroom. Not that I haven't missed it."

"Stargate Command is no longer under alien control, General O'Neill," Teal'c replied. "Councilor Tolan is dead."

"Well, that's good news, though I doubt it'll make the front page." Jack did a slight double take as he saw Mitchell working beside Carter, and asked, "What's up with him?"

"Long story, Jack," said Daniel. "I don't even know the half of it."

"Trust me, you don't want to," Cameron added.

"Don't worry, I love stories," said Jack.

Sam straightened up as she keyed in the last code. "Got it, sir!" she announced triumphantly as the red abort message flashed across the screen.

"Good job, Carter," Jack said. He picked up the microphone near one of the stations and turned it on. "Hey everybody - it's me - Jack O'Neill...good to be back, the base is now secure and you can come out now. You had us pretty worried for a while, but we're back to normal operations now."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Last chapter! Sorry the story isn't that great - I wrote it two years ago, I think... But please, review and let me know what you think! I know there's people reading this who aren't reviewing...so please just jot down a line or two? It's the last chance you'll get, so please make use of it!

* * *

"So, Doctor, how is he?" General Landry asked as he entered his daughter's office.

Carolyn looked away from the diagram she was studying, and rubbed her eyes. It had been a long 48 hours, and she was glad that everything had turned out ok. Well, most everything.

"Well, the device is some sort of microchip, but much more complex. According to the scans, it's almost grown into his brain. Frankly, I have no idea how they got it in there - maybe some advanced beaming technology, because I can't find any sign of incision - but I do know one thing. I can't get it out."

"It won't kill him, will it?" Landry asked.

"Not unless I try to remove it," Carolyn answered. "From what he told me, it only activated while he was near the robots. The main part of it probably stores basic information, but the rest he seemed to have learned from communication with the robots themselves. The robots probably hadn't finished their operation when the rest of SG-1 arrived, so that's why he's still - well, himself."

The general nodded, and they sat in silence for a minute.

"Carolyn..." he said.

"Yeah?"

"I'm proud of you. Doing what you did." He chuckled. "I was out like a light and you were down here leading a resistance movement and holding out against the robots. You're something else, Carolyn."

She smiled slightly. "But, Dad..." she began, then stopped. She was on the job, what if one of the patients saw her? Forget it, she decided, I can drop the tough doctor act for a few minutes, I have to ask...

"Dad, when I said that I wouldn't stop the quarantine..." She looked up at him, then let her eyes drop. "It wasn't because I didn't love you," she said quietly. "You know that, don't you?" She swallowed hard before she pushed out the next words. "That I love you?" Strange, that hadn't been as hard as she'd thought.

"Of course I know, Carrie," her dad said, using an old nickname. "You're my daughter."

Carolyn tensed slightly as she felt her dad wrap an arm around her. But no one was around, and it actually felt quite good not to have to act so hard-boiled... She slipped her arm around him in return and relaxed.

"So, Doc, what's up with my -" Carolyn jumped as she heard the familiar voice and then saw Colonel Mitchell appear at the doorway. He stopped midsentence in surprise as he saw the general. Carolyn thought cynically that that wasn't the only reason for his surprise.

"Excuse me. Sir. Ma'am," he managed, then ducked out. His face was a shade redder than when he'd come in, and Carolyn felt that hers had to resemble a tomato by now.

She grimaced, angry with herself, but...

She remembered the look on Mitchell's face, and couldn't keep a little giggle from coming out. Whoa, Carolyn, where did that come from? she asked herself. But she heard her father give a snort of laughter too, and... well, Mitchell was a nice guy and she almost hated to amuse herself at his expense, but... almost. Ok, so it was fun to laugh at her dad's subordinates every once in a while, and she'd go out in a few minutes and glare ice picks at him anyway, so why not...

Carolyn laughed along with her dad. She could be Dr. Lam again in a few minutes, but -

In a few minutes.

Not now.

* * *

Sam looked up as the general entered her lab, and smiled. Not just because he was in civilian clothes and she didn't have to salute, but because it was Jack.

"Hey, Carter," he said, approaching her work table.

"Hi sir," she said, and went to a side table to rummage around for a tool.

"Whoa, Sam!" she heard Jack say as he saw what she was working on. "What is this, biology class?"

Sam suppressed a grin as she heard the surprise in Jack's voice. "It's not alive anymore, sir, and it never really was..." She turned back to her work table, armed with a new tool.

Jack was still looking down at the robot body. Sam knew what he was thinking; it was pretty creepy, tinkering with a machine that looked so human.

"You know, I think that if I'd just spent a couple of days on a planet full of these things trying to kill me I'd give it a week or two before I started cutting one up."

"Mmmm." Sam leaned closer to the robot and peered through her magnifying glass. A dissection microscope would help, she thought...

"Or is this how you get your revenge?" Jack went on. "I like blowing them up, you like picking apart their innards?"

Sam grinned. She'd missed Jack. "That last one was kind of tough, sir," she said.

"Yeah. How is everyone?"

"Oh, fine I guess. Daniel and Cameron are a little cut up about it - but for different reasons, I think. The Ancients, you know. Teal'c - well, he's Teal'c."

Jack chuckled. "He's got feelings, too, you know. That rat Woolsey heard about the Ancients and came down here to tell us exactly how we mismanaged it. Lost research opportunity, lousy command, blah, blah, blah... I let Teal'c have a word with him. When he was finished, he ran back to Washington like his tail was on fire. Which I wish it was."

Sam smiled. "Are you sure it was only a word?"

"Yeah." Jack sobered, lowering his voice. "You guys did the right thing."

Sam nodded halfheartedly. She'd said the same thing to Cameron only an hour before, but she still wasn't quite sure she believed it.

"What about you, Sam?" Jack asked.

"Fine, sir," she said, burying herself in her work to avoid his eyes.

They stood in silence for a few minutes. Then Sam put down her tool and looked up. "I guess I'm just determined to have something good come out of this situation," she said, motioning to the robot lying on her worktable.

"So does that mean you're going to spend the rest of the day holed up in this lab with a dead robot for company?" Jack asked.

"Well...yeah," Sam said. Unless you have something else in mind?

"Even when the sun is shining, the weather is nice, and the fish are biting?"

Sam gave him a sideways look. "I thought your pond was out of fish again, sir."

Jack's smile wilted. "It is." Then he brightened again. "But I know a guy around here who owns a tackle shop, he rents out rods so we could go fly-fishing in the river..."

Sam smiled. The last time she'd gone fishing had been...almost a year ago, when Jack was still working at the SGC. It seemed like so long ago. But... "I don't know how to fly-fish."

"Nothing to it. Easier than cutting up a robot, at any rate."

Sam checked her watch and laid down her magnifying glass. "Well, sir, if we want to catch something in time for lunch, we'd better get going."

Jack's eyes lit up. "Sweet! You know, I have a secret recipe for fried fish. And I happen to have some of the secret ingredients in my truck already..."

Sam laughed as they walked out the door. "It's beer, isn't it, sir?"

"I never said -"

"Well, I bet it isn't axle grease!"

"It could be..."

Sam grinned. If the last few days had been a nightmare, so what? She knew that today was going to be delicious.


End file.
